Janus Henderson Partners with Centrifuge to Bring AAA CLO Strategy to the Blockchain with $1B Backing

The world of tokenized finance just hit a major milestone. Janus Henderson, one of the world’s leading asset managers, has partnered with Centrifuge to bring its flagship AAA CLO Strategy, JAAA, fully onchain. This isn’t just another wrapper around an offchain fund. It’s a native, blockchain-powered investment product, built from the ground up for the decentralized economy. Grove, the institutional credit platform incubated in the Sky ecosystem, is seeding the fund with a massive $1 billion allocation.

Advancing the Convergence of TradFi and DeFi

As traditional asset managers seek access to decentralized capital and crypto-native protocols seek real-world yield, Grove’s infrastructure launches as a much-needed bridge. The non-custodial protocol creates a secure, scalable capital highway between TradFi and DeFi, enabling efficient, low-friction access to institutional-grade credit strategies.

The Grove team brings deep experience across TradFi, DeFi, and credit markets, with backgrounds at firms like Deloitte, BlockTower Capital, Hildene Capital Management, and Citibank. Incubated by Steakhouse Financial and supported by Sky, Grove was built to bring real-world assets (RWAs) onchain in a secure, compliant, and capital-efficient way.

Centrifuge: Powering Institutional Credit Onchain

Centrifuge played a key role in bringing JAAA onchain. We did this not by wrapping an existing ETF, but by fully integrating the credit strategy into an onchain-native format. This reduces intermediary costs, increases operational efficiency, and expands access to a global base of capital allocators.

“While tokenized treasuries have paved the way, there's a growing demand for more diversified, high-quality assets onchain,” said Anil Sood, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of Centrifuge. “Together with Janus Henderson, we’ve brought JAAA fully onchain, unlocking operational efficiencies and broader investor access.”

Centrifuge’s technology provides the foundation for tokenizing and distributing credit strategies in a transparent and programmable manner, helping to usher in a new generation of institutional DeFi infrastructure.

A Gateway to Institutional-Grade CLO Exposure

Managed by the same portfolio managers behind Janus Henderson’s $21 billion AAA CLO ETF, the JAAA strategy seeks to preserve capital while delivering attractive yield. The launch offers onchain investors an institutional-grade solution and a next step beyond tokenized T-Bills.

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Backed by Industry Leaders

Janus Henderson, a global leader in active asset management, emphasized its long-term innovation strategy and belief in blockchain’s role in transforming financial markets.

“Last year, our AAA CLO strategy attracted the most inflows among all actively managed fixed income ETFs,” said Nick Cherney, Head of Innovation at Janus Henderson. “We’re excited to partner with Grove and Centrifuge, who share our vision for building the onchain economy.”

The initiative is also supported by Sky, whose protocol underpins stablecoins like USDS and continues to lead in the adoption of tokenized RWAs.

“The team behind Grove has played a critical role in unlocking the power of RWAs for DeFi,” said Rune Christensen, co-founder of Sky. “With the move to embrace CLOs, Grove is showcasing its expertise and innovation in helping protocols modernize and diversify their portfolios.”

Enabling the Next Chapter for Onchain Capital

Through Centrifuge, asset managers can bring institutional-grade credit strategies fully onchain—delivering regulated, tokenized investment vehicles to the DeFi ecosystem. Centrifuge unlocks capital efficiency, expands global access to traditionally exclusive asset classes, and creates the foundational infrastructure connecting TradFi and DeFi. By embracing tokenization, Centrifuge’s partnership with Grove and Janus Henderson aims to lead in the shift toward more transparent, efficient, and programmable financial products.

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